#Directions to meander meadow series

Here is Baz, below, seated just inside the entrance to the maze. The man behind this madness is Baz Kershaw, artist and writer, who is based in the Southwest of England, and has devised ‘meadow meanders’ similar to this one in a variety of other contexts, under the moniker of “Earthrise Repair Shop”. With cross-roads and merging pathways looking something like this… MSW’s Steve Bottoms, marking out the meander path in the shadow of Salts New MillĪt ground level, the path looked something like this… Then, using a carefully devised schematic, we walked a meandering, mazy route into the grass within the rectangle. … and persuaded the Council’s mowers to at least mow a swath around this rectangle, to help mark out the grasses within it as something ‘special’.

#Directions to meander meadow series

To do this, we pounded a series of stakes into the ground, to mark out a large rectangular space… In July 2015, in collaboration with Higher Coach Road’s emerging residents’ group, we staged a creative intervention in the long grass, as an attempt to spark public debate about the flood plain’s future treatment. Meanwhile, other residents are opposed to the long grass altogether, either for aesthetic reasons, and/or because they’re concerned about dog-fouling etc. But that takes proper planning and planting - and resources. Some residents on the estate have argued that, if this is going to keep happening, then the flood plain should at least be made over as a proper wildflower meadow (a mission discussed in this blog here). And as the wind catches it all, there can be a striking wave effect, as in this video clip.īut if the grasses are left uncut, as the summer wears on, the colour fades a bit, and it begins - to many residents’ eyes - to look distinctly less appealing…įor the last few summers, because of austerity cuts at Bradford Council, the grass here has been left unmown for longer and longer periods, even though the lawns in Roberts Park - immediately next door to the east - are kept immaculately manicured. In the spring, the grasses of the flood plain become a riot of colourful buttercups. To the right (north) lies the Higher Coach Road estate, built up on banking just above the flood plain. That figure in blue is walking along the riverside track. Here it is, viewed from the opposite direction (from the east), with the river now to the left. To the left (north), on the other side of those riverside trees, lies a grassy flood plain… … The River Aire, wending its way downstream towards Saltaire and Shipley.